The Five People You Meet In Heaven
by fugacior
Summary: He discovers and learns of the life from them after he was plunged through the abyss of death and reached the afterlife.


Eren had wondered how an afterlife would be.

All in his life, he had been going through despair and abhorrent times because of the menace of the Titans. He spent his life slaying and finishing them one by one, either as a human or as a Titan. He chose to go through the path where he would save mankind from the greatest threat of their lives, as well as to avenge those barbaric giants for taking away the life of his mother. He bore a very large responsibility upon mankind as Humanity's Last Hope, moreover after the disappearance of Humanity's Strongest Soldier, Corporal Levi, which some presumed him as dead. He was still standing, and forever he would fight until he's able to see the enrapturing beauty of the outside world beyond the walls.

Somehow, he had never thought what kind of world would he encounter when he died someday. He learned from his parents who first told him of the place where supposedly souls gather into one place and God, as the Fairest Judge of the universe, is the one to determine whether each and every of His people is worthy enough to go to the stairway of the most enchanted last destination—heaven. Some who aren't so lucky for not repenting their sins in the earth will be plunged down into the pit of horrendous sorrow—hell. There will be nothing but torture and despair; poor unfortunate souls would have to bear endless days of pain and hurt.

There was another opinion of the afterlife. Armin, his best friend, once ever told him about the heavens. He described it different from the way his parents did—it is beautiful, but in someway dissimilar. After a person dies, they will meet five people. Those people, either known or not for the person, will give them lessons of life about the happenings and its meanings when the person lived in earth. There will be a time when the person will wait for someone who happened to cross paths with them to give a lesson.

Eren preferred to believe the second version of the world beyond him. He wanted to know what kind of people whom he would meet, although somehow his desire was to meet his mother in the heavens. He pondered what kind of lessons will he receive after he left the world, and to whom will he give lessons and what kind. He may had it figured it out soon enough—God had determined the time where his lifeline on the earth would end.

* * *

**The Five People You Meet in Heaven**

**Shingeki no Kyojin **© **Isayama Hajime**

**The Five People You Meet in Heaven **© **Mitch Albom**

* * *

**{**_ endings are new beginnings _**}**

He was 16. Eren Jaeger had his birthday at around three months ago, right at the moment before they underwent another expedition. He had his friends around; fellow soldiers from the Scouting Legion who happened to notice him growing older a year gave him warm and gripful handshakes, some pep talks as well as motivating words and messages. It wasn't even a celebration, although there was a cake. The only one who spent some time to prepare him a present was Mikasa, his loving and caring adoptive sister. She still remembered how her mother used to teach her how to knit as a family tradition—of course, she knew what to give him.

"A scarf?" he raised his thick brown eyebrows. "And you made it exactly as your own?"

She nodded. "It is a token of appreciation, Eren, of what you gave to me when you accepted me as a relative, as someone close to you. It is a symbol of my affection of you which saved me from being lonely after I lost my family. I want you to know how much you mean to me, so I can only give you this. I'm sorry if it weren't great or as meaningful as you expected."

He then stared at the gift. It was more than just meaningful—it was profoundly valuable. Throughout his life, there weren't so many people who gave him such significant presents. He had enough new clothes as he grew larger whenever he had his birthday coming; his mother usually would have prepared a special dinner and baked him his favorite cake and put on some candles. His father would go home earlier, and everyone would gather in the middle room and listened to him making wishes as he blew out the candles one by one.

Now that he left far away from home, he wrote his wishes on his own and whispering them to himself one by one before he went to bed at the night of his birthday.

* * *

"Oh, my God! What do we have here?"

Everyone taunted as they saw Eren descended the stairs along with Mikasa. He was already at his attire, didn't look disheveled at all. There was a brand new feature added—he started wearing the scarf which Mikasa gave to him as his birthday present. The first time he tried it, it was awkwardly entwined around his neck as his head was almost buried underneath the layers of the fabric, so she was the one who wrapped it swiftly and tidily in a similar fashion. It looked perfect on him.

"You're kidding, right?" someone barked from afar. "Jaeger has made it official!"

"Looks like you owe us some explanation, Jaeger!" another shouted, followed with a wolf whistle.

This, obviously, made Jean enraged. He was the only one to object the presence of the two's close relationship. He was very much infatuated by Mikasa from the first time he caught her at his sight when they first arrived for training camp. He had already marked a somewhat disputed relationship between him and Eren, and of course ever since he knew about Mikasa and Eren's long history and how they actually grew together made him even more jealous. Over the years, he might have gone to the moment where he developed a sense of ignorance towards Mikasa—no matter how hard he tried to seize her, she would instantly crush his guts down and make sure that he wouldn't mess with her. "Never in a million years," as she said it to him every time.

If it were at the years when they were still at the training camp, he would've made fun of the scarf, telling Eren that it looked silly and that he didn't deserve to wear it on the open public. As predicted by everyone who grew tired of their quarrels, Eren would retort crudely and sometimes followed with a thirty second verbal fight before they eventually got to the fight part—in the end, Eren won, Jean got himself embarrassed for the umpteenth time, and Mikasa would stop her adoptive brother from getting into trouble before Keith Shadis caught someone and she had to accuse poor innocent Sasha instead.

But things went different now, and so did him.

"You look good."

When Eren first heard of Jean's neutral comment upon his new look, he was utterly bewildered. He thought he would expect a blunt and exaggerating affront, but Jean himself seemed uninterested to give a damn of him anymore. He didn't boast out like he usually did, and after Marco died, he had shifted into an overall better person.

"What? You got a problem with what I said?" he asked. "That's the truth. Besides, Mikasa's the one who made it, so I can't say that it's bad either."

Eren knew that he was telling the truth. Jean was a straightforward and honest person. He could perceive it from how Jean complimented him; if it were a lie, he would have used better words with a slight allusive meaning behind it. Nevertheless, he didn't expect him to speak out his opinion regarding his matter. Jean would prefer to ignore, but this time there was a presentiment. To Eren, this was one of those moments where Jean said the kindest words to him, and he didn't know why.

"Thanks."

Both didn't smile at each other as Mikasa and Eren left him.

In times, people have a second where they forebode a strange feeling or sight of what would happen. It could be true or not, but a large part of it are close to the happenings. Some are good and some are not, but most of the worst are the ones nearest to the truth. Good things happened unexpected, many have said, and it passes faster than you think. Before he acknowledged Marco's death, he had a bad hunch. Something unfortunate went on his way, but not directly at him. Instead, it took away his closest, and how it assailed him right on his soul had cracked him down. It made him weak and vulnerable, until he realized how much he wanted to grow stronger than before.

There came again. The same feeling which he encountered before. It may have been a mere bluff or just an imagination, but no matter how hard Jean tried to deny it, it drew him closer and closer, as if the death itself gave him a sign of its entity and how soon its recent victim would fall onto its arms. It was only a matter of time and he wouldn't know unless he sees it for himself. The future is a scary sight; only a few people bestowed with a gift of knowing a hint of what lies beneath it.

He didn't want to know anything, really.

"Goddamnit," he cursed himself. "Why is it coming again..."

He then ascended the stairs, leaving everyone behind.

* * *

Three months later, an expedition had been commenced.

It had been a year since the last time they went for it. They had prepared and it was the perfect time. Humanity would regain its right to live free and Titans would no longer be the threat of them. Although many significant lives had lost on its way, there was a progressive achievement upon the increasing chances of mankind's survival after discovering Eren. Everyone would have hope for a better future despite the rocky path they had to go through.

The sounds of the horses' trampling and neighs was the only thing heard of the Scouting Legion troops before they left. The citizens of the walls were anxious and skeptic of the expedition's success; the children who admired their bravery were the only ones positive of it. They always gathered at the sides whenever they departed and arrived. They waved exuberantly and told their friends that they wanted to be like those daring soldiers one day, not knowing what would be at ahead of them.

The Commander, Erwin Smith, had been having a hard time constructing plans and whatsoever without any help of people who were important and significantly vital to the success of the Scouting Legion. He had to endure a great loss and suffering after Corporal Levi's disappearance—the number of Titans grew rapid and there was a decrease in the number of the Titans slayed throughout the history after the corporal went missing in action. Strategies were changed, and despite losing a large number of trump cards, he believed the new bloods of his people would eventually be a great replacement of what was lost.

There was a heavy increase in defense, though. After a momentum of chaos where he lost his right arm in order to save Eren from the Armored Titan, he was protected by a new defense squad in the formation. Meanwhile, Eren, still being the greatest asset of mankind's success, was positioned in the rear center likewise the first expedition. A new squad had been assigned to protect him, and one of its members was Mikasa. She was lucky enough to gain a perfect position, and Eren didn't know whether he should be glad or displeased about it. His friends were positioned far different from before, some were stationed at the very front of the formation.

Eren rode his horse dauntlessly as his adrenaline slowly pumped up. He was ready to fight back, he was positive of mankind's attempt of usurpation to gain their place of the world. A hope was planted upon the hearts of people who sat behind the walls, waiting for their arrival of triumph. They had one goal in mind—to exterminate the Titans and helping humans regained its glory once more.

Mikasa, who was riding beside him, glanced at him at a short second before she focused her gaze on the open field, watching closely whether she spotted a Titan from afar. It might haven't gotten easily onto the rear center of the formation, but who knows? The existence of the Armored Titan and the Colossal Titan were still unknown beforehand, they were still the main threat since the only one who were able to compete with them was the Rogue Titan, with an exception of the Colossal one.

Nonetheless, she believed in him. She believed that everything would be okay, as long as they have each other. She believed him as the key towards humanity's greatest achievement of all, and how she was glad that he was still alive up until now. As long as she was capable of protecting him and knowing that he's safe, she would be fine.

"Eren."

He turned and saw her as a faint smile emerged on her oriental complexion.

"What?"

"Don't get killed, okay?"

He simply scoffed to himself as he tightened his grip on the lash.

* * *

They were already arrived at the forest; the one where Eren had been to when he was on the mission with the Special Operations Squad.

For awhile, he experienced a bitter déjà vu. This was the place of death of the squad who helped him, the place where his vendetta grew larger as he encountered the mysterious yet dangerously agile Female Titan, who turned out to be a fellow former graduate of the 104th Trainees Squad along with him, Annie Leonhardt. The Special Operation Squad's end were one of the most poignant deaths he ever witnessed in his life—to this date, he considered them as brave heroes motioned in flawless and sharp yet graceful harmony.

A small part of him hated it when he went through the forest again, one of the place where his nightmares had just begun.

The troops kept advancing forward. Both soldiers from the left and right wing so far had not found any problems in dealing with Titans, though there was a little number of lives lost on the line. There was none who were able to penetrate until the center; the flames emitted were purposedly to change directions and to spot Titans that were needed to be avoided.

There were sounds of the Titans' thumping feet on the ground. From miles of distance, the outmost positions of the formation's side wings maneuvered, cutting an adjacent and thorough line from the nape of the Titan's flesh. A loud thud followed as the horses began to trot away from the evaporating carcass. Some managed to escape from sudden attacks; there wasn't an advantage in exterminating at an open field unless completely necessary.

He felt the wind swooping hard and fast on his face as everything went dim. There was a little light which was able to shine through since the trees were large enough to create darkness. This was the perfect place to use the 3D Maneuver Gear, so in the meantime he didn't have to rely much on his Titan powers yet. It had been almost half an hour, but they hadn't encountered a presence of a Titan near them...

... although there was a force which brought a strong peril upon them.

Mikasa, sensing danger ahead of her and especially of her beloved relative, gritted her teeth after she spotted a random Titan a few miles away. She could hear them roaring from afar before she prepared herself to maneuver at the finest angle possible until she motioned herself swiftly and was able to get a nice slice of the Titan's nape flesh. It wasn't a usual sight to have a Titan suddenly coming out alone at the forests—there were possiblities, but there might be a chance a cluster of them tailed from behind later.

Meanwhile, Eren was still focused forward. He mustered up his energy and saved it until he could meet his mortal enemy when he needed to. He moved onward, as he piled up his courage. He started to think how far he had gone through, how much he had endured, and how much he expected himself to develop and to comprehend the situations. He felt that he had gotten even closer to the answers he had been looking for; after his father had messaged him about the secrets of the basement of his home in Shiganshina, he was determined to know the reasons and the truth which could be the key to open the utmost concealed of the turmoil's roots.

"Eren, look out!"

_THWACK! BUMP!_

A large shadow smacked him upfront, throwing him from his horse. He stumbled and rolled back, as he grunted and moaned in pain. The force which took him down was still unknown to the guard squad. Mikasa immediately pulled her lash to stop her horse from advancing, then began to change the direction and ride it back where Eren laid.

"Eren! Are you okay?!" she shouted. "I'm coming!"

She could have had her chance—until a seven meter was on its way. No, this time, there were _two_ seven meters and another three meter who came to her tumbling in an awkward yet odd fashion. She was infuriated enough of their bugging; perhaps, less than ten minutes would be sufficient to terminate all three of them down with her capability. Carefully, she stood and balanced herself on the saddle until she had her body up in the air as she equipped the blades on her hands. Quickly, she slashed one of the seven meters' nape and threw a blade to blind another. She did a three-sixty degree spun to avoid several attacks—there was a second where she almost got caught of a three meter's hand, but she managed to chop its fingers until she was able to slice its nape. There was one left to be taken care of...

"MIKASA, NO!"

.

.

.

... not until a fifteen meter appeared and cornered her down.

The sequences of the battle went in a fast-forwarded speed in seconds. She was brought to distraught—then arrived him, who tried to save her from danger. She tried to stop him, but it was too late. He already fought back, even though she wasn't sure if he would end himself in losing his own life or not.

"EREN!"

.

.

.

.

.

There was not much she could gain from it, but all she saw were:

Lights. Eren. His rage. Scenes in a multiplied pace. Sparks of flashes. His scarf.

.

.

.

.

.

The last thing she heard of him was his shout of her name.

* * *

"Hey, Armin?"

A blond boy glanced at the person who called out his name. There stood his best friend, Eren, who scurried towards his direction. He must've wanted to ask something of the outside world again; a topic they never got bored with. It was their thing, their utmost deepest dreams. They never grew tired to think of what would it be, and from the moment they knew of it, they promised each other that they would be able to go there someday together.

"Is it the outside world again?"

Eren shook his head, to which Armin tilted his head in surprise. "Anything bothers you?"

"Not really," he answered. "I've been wondering... where would we go after we died. My parents told me that it's called an afterlife, and that it consists of two, heaven and hell. Is that right?"

Armin nodded. "Yeah, my grandfather told me the same thing. I've been hearing that from other people too. But somehow, I believe an afterlife is somewhat different than just heaven and hell."

Eren squinted his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I think of it like this: after a person dies, they will immediately go straight to the heavens," he expounded. "But the place wouldn't be as beautiful as they thought it would be—they will have to meet five people. Those five people, who happened to have intertwining paths with the person when they were alive, will give them lessons of the happenings in the earth when the person lived. You may or may not know them, but soon you will have it figured out after you understand each of their lessons. You too will give lessons to people who soon would die, even if they don't know that you've known them. You just need to explain them what life means and at what purpose do they have to meet you."

It was an interesting and unique approach of the afterlife's concept. He had never imagined that he will meet five people. That means, he would encounter five people which some of them were close to him. There would be a chance that he can meet his mother there, and probably she will be the one to give him lessons of the happenings as he lived.

"How close does the five people have to be with the person, Armin?"

At first, Armin was confused, but in the end he got Eren's point. "They could be close to you, probably someone you consider as a family or a relative. Or maybe even a total stranger to you; you may have never seen them before, but somehow they acknowledged you."

"So that means if I died soon, will I be able to see my mother as one of the five people I meet there?"

"... Maybe. I don't know, it depends."

The breeze swiftly swept across their faces as the sunset began to appear at the horizon.

"I hope I can meet my mother in the afterlife," he said. "I want to apologize to her and that I owe to her a lot. I want to know if she's proud of me for being a better boy, and what kind of lessons she will give me."

Hearing that, Armin could only smile. He secretly wished that he would meet his grandfather too in the afterlife, as well as his parents. Still, he wasn't sure what kind of strangers who will greet him after he died. He might have recognized a distinct appearance or two, but probably it was a part of his reverie.

"She's going to be proud of you, no matter what."

Eren turned and gazed at him. "How do you know?"

Armin chuckled. "I guess you'll have to ask her when you meet her."

They were still eleven at that time.

* * *

"Ugh..."

The young boy slowly rose from the ground, rubbing his eyes as he regained his sight. Stinging pain ached his body all over; some bruises made it even worse. It must have been because after he fought and slayed the Titans, and he might have used his energy and passed out. He didn't feel quite good—well, until the pain began to vaporize itself away from him—especially after he discovered himself waking in the middle of a foggy forest—

.

.

.

.

.

—wait, since when did the forests become so _foggy_?

"Where am I?"

He stepped once, twice. He walked several steps forward as the temperature went lower and lower until it gave him enough chills to make him shudder. It couldn't be this unusually cold—more importantly, where were the others? Where were the Titans?

Was he able to save Mikasa from them?

.

.

.

"Mikasa! Can you hear me?"

He called out for her name. He didn't get any answer.

.

.

.

"Where are you, Mikasa?"

There was not a response. All he could hear was the sound of the blowing wind.

.

.

.

He continued his journey of searching as he wondered where he was. Everything looked similar to the surroundings he last saw since it was familiar to him; the difference was that no one was there. Not a soul, just him. He immersed himself down into silence, but there was a strange feeling. He began to lose his emotions and he could feel himself floating from the ground, as the landscape stretched in front him faded with the horizon.

_I couldn't... feel anything..._

There were no worries. There was no pain. All that was left upon him were questions, puddling up on his brain as the drops of mystery drenched and drowned him deep. He asked himself why, how, where, and what, but he had no single idea of how to answer them. It perplexed him, beckoning him to look for a clue. Still, in lack of emotions had made it even more difficult for him to figure everything out.

_Where...?_

Once more, he gazed the sky and everything around him suddenly turned dark.

**tbc.**

* * *

**A/N: **I only use the book's heaven concept as the main material of this fic.

I'm really sorry if there were a lot of flaws because it was a bit confusing on how to write out Eren's death. Really, I couldn't think of any scene but him saving Mikasa because that's probably what he will do at the end of his life regarding how he usually gets saved by her.

I don't really have any furthermore comments. Go out and loathe me, I know I need a lot of improvements.


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